The Future of Community and Mobility Week
Sustainability of museums - The future of museums in rapidly changing communities
World Expo Museum
World Expo Museum (WEM) and the International Council of Museums Asia-Pacific (ICOM-ASPAC) wish to collaborate on a symposium on sustainable museum development to explore museums' critical role in advancing sustainable development. The symposium will bring together museum professionals, scholars, and policymakers from the Asia-Pacific region, particularly from the museum field in Japan, to discuss how museums can play an active role in social, cultural, environmental, and economic sustainability.
Recorded video available
Discussion
- intangible heritage, youth power, new tech, local community revitalisation
| Transmission of simultaneous interpretation | Provided |
|---|---|
| Language of interpretation | Japanese and English |
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Track Programme
- Time and
Date of
the event -
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2025.05.25[Sun]
18:00 ～ 20:00
(Venue Open 17:30)
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- Venue
- Theme Weeks Studio
Programme details
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The topics of the symposium will echo the theme of 2025 International Museum Day," The future of museums in rapidly changing communities”. The symposium will create a space for sharing and exchange in terms of museums' social functions and responsibilities, cultural diversity and inclusiveness, digitalization and sustainable development. Through case studies and discussions, the symposium will explore the local relevance of museums in different cultural contexts and the role they play in promoting sustainable development, based on the 5P themes of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Partnership, People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace). As a participant of Expo 2025 Osaka, the WEM hopes to build a platform for exchange and dialogue among international museum sector at this highly international event in Japan, focusing on the positive role of museums in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, encouraging museums to become community leaders and catalysts for change, and contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
Reports
【Reflection】
On May 25, 2025, the World Expo Museum (WEM) and the International Council of Museums – Asia-Pacific Alliance (ICOM-ASPAC) co-hosted a special thematic session under the Expo 2025 Osaka "Theme Weeks" framework. The event focused on “Sustainability of Museums – The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities”, echoing the 2025 International Museum Day theme and aligning closely with the core concept of Expo 2025: Designing Future Society for Our Lives.
This marked the first dedicated museum-focused session in the Theme Weeks, Event of Expo 2025 Osaka, opening new avenues for exploring the synergy between universal exhibitions and museum innovation.This event invited the museum experts from Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania provided multilayered perspectives on sustainability–covering topics like digital transformation, youth education, and inclusive governance.
Professor and Chairperson of ICOM-ASPAC Mr.An Laishun emphasized the diverse and local perspectives within the Asia-Pacific museum community. Director of the WEM, Mrs. Liu Wentao introduced that China has over 7,000 museums with an annual visitation of 1.4 billion, making museums powerful agents of social transformation.
Mrs. Deborah Tout-Smith,executive Board Member, ICOM / senior curator from Museums Victoria highlighted the role of international partnerships in fostering inclusion and cultural solidarity.
President of the ICOM-Cambodia Dr. Kérya Chau Sun shared how Cambodian museums promote women’s participation, education, and local employment in heritage preservation. Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University; Deputy Director of China Art Museum (Shanghai Art Museum) Mrs.Ma Lin presented case studies on museum–community co-creation and art-led urban revitalization in Shanghai.
Professor Emeritus of the National Museum of Ethnology (Japan),Dr.Kenji YOSHIDA discussed the the role of museum is played for accumulation and dissemination of local culture, including knowledge, memory, and technology which has been transmitted from one generation to another in the community.
Director of the Iron Museum (Korea); Vice-President of ICOM; Chairperson of the National Museum Foundation of Korea, Mrs .Inkyung Chang introduced the new attempts of museums in Korea actively exploring new possibilities for economic stability to ensure their sustainable development.
This initiative marked a pioneering attempt to embed museum voices into the World Expo platform, expanding beyond static displays to interactive dialogue and strategic thought.This event reinforced the potential for synergy between museum institutions and global platforms like World Expos in promoting sustainability and shared futures.
【Post EXPO Initiatives】
The event fostered new regional dialogues, strengthening cooperation, and mutual learning among museum professionals. Museums are increasingly recognized not only as keepers of heritage but as change-makers contributing to education, gender equality, climate awareness, and peaceful communities. The organizers would like to compile and publish the key speeches, case studies, and discussions from the event in a bilingual (English-Chinese) report or booklet. This can serve as a reference for museum professionals and policymakers across the region.
Cast
Moderator
An Laishun
ICOM-ASPAC, Shanghai University
Professor of Shanghai University, Academic Leader and Doctoral Supervisor of the School of Cultural Heritage and Information Management of Shanghai University, Chairperson of the Asia-Pacific Alliance of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), Director of ICOM's Centre for Research and Communication, and Vice-President of the China Association of Museums (CAM).
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Speakers
CHANG Inkyung
Iron Museum，Korea，ICOM
CHANG Inkyung is the director of the Iron Museum in Korea and the Vice-President of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). She also serves as the Chairperson of the National Museum Foundation of Korea, a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Intangible Heritage and the President of the Korean Society of Museum Studies. Trained in arts, archaeology, and museum studies, she has promoted and advocated museums and the profession while running a museum for over 25 years.
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Kenji Yoshida
Professor Emeritus and the former Director-General at the National Museum of Ethnology;Vice-Chair of ICOM-Japan.
Kenji Yoshida is Professor Emeritus and the former Director-General at the National Museum of Ethnology, specializing in museum anthropology. He has been carrying out fieldwork on the expressive culture of Southern Africa, especially in Zambia. He has also been organizing various exhibitions on art and culture by networking art museums and cultural museums. His major exhibitions and publications include DImages of Other Cultures (ed. with John Mack, exhibition catalogue) 1997, Preserving the Cultural Heritage of Africa (ed. with John Mack) 2008, and Portraits of Cultures: Networking Museology (Bunka no Shohzoh, in Japanese) 2013.
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LIU Wentao
World Expo Museum
LIU Wentao is the director of World Expo Museum and also the Vice Chairman of the Exhibition Exchange Committee of the Chinese Museum Association. She served as deputy director of Shanghai Museum, deputy director of Nanjing Museum, assistant director of the Palace Museum (one-year posting). She has various significant roles in museum administration and cultural exchange, contributing to the development and promotion of museum exhibits and cultural heritage in China.
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Deborah Tout-Smith
Museums Victoria,Australia, ICOM Executive Board, ICOM SAREC Committee
Deborah Tout-Smith is an Executive Board Member of ICOM (2022-25) and ex-officio Board Member of ICOM-ASPAC (2022-25). She is Senior Curator, Home & Community, in the History & Technology Department of Museums Victoria, Australia. She has curated major exhibitions including World War I: Love & Sorrow (2014), and curates home & community, military history, clothing & textiles and childhood collections.
Deborah sits on the Advisory Board of the Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage at the University of Melbourne (2020-25) and the Board of the History Council of Victoria (2021- ).
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Kérya Chau Sun
ICOM Cambodia, ICOM-ASPAC
Since 2021, Kérya SUN (CHAU SUN) has been elected President of the ICOM Cambodia Committee, created in 1997, after having been Secretary General.
Holder of a doctorate in geography from the Sorbonne University, she specializes in the management of cultural heritage sites.
She is a member of the Secretariat of the International Coordination Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Convinced that Asia is an open door to the museums of the future through its richness and cultural diversity of the past, she is an active member of ICOM ASPAC.
Since her return to Cambodia in 1995, she has continued to train young people in various fields of tourism, in different aspects of heritage, based on the management of the Angkor site and thanks to her involvement in ICOM, she had promoted the training of young professionals in the
different specialties offered by the museums.
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MA Lin
Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts
MA Lin,the deputy director and doctoral supervisor of the Art Museum of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University, the deputy director of China Art Museum, Shanghai, a member of the Chinese Artists Association, and a member of the Display Art Committee of the China Museum Association. Her curatorial projects include art history retrospectives, contemporary art exhibitions, and a series of exhibitions on dialogue between cultural relics and contemporary art. In recent years, she has also paid great attention to museums, art museums and community participation, curating the "Art Community" series of exhibitions and promoting the practice and theoretical research of "Community Art Museum".
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Co-organiser
World Expo Museum
ICOM-ASPAC
The Future of Community and Mobility Week
Sustainability of museums - The future of museums in rapidly changing communities
World Expo Museum (WEM) and the International Council of Museums Asia-Pacific (ICOM-ASPAC) wish to collaborate on a symposium on sustainable museum development to explore museums' critical role in advancing sustainable development. The symposium will bring together museum professionals, scholars, and policymakers from the Asia-Pacific region, particularly from the museum field in Japan, to discuss how museums can play an active role in social, cultural, environmental, and economic sustainability.
-
2025.05.25[Sun]
18:00～20:00
(Venue Open 17:30)
- Theme Weeks Studio
- * Programme times and content are subject to change. Any changes will be announced on this website and via the ticket booking system.
- * The schedule is subject to change depending on the organiser's circumstances.
OTHER PROGRAM
The Future of Community and Mobility Week
